Contrast of life

North America feels like it is in a lull. The pace is so slow (particularily in Canada). People seem somewhat too comfortable in their established ways. Prolonged establishment will eventually lead to change (for instance the current state of France). Walking through the cities in North America, buildings look dated, cold/dirty and bland. Half of the storefronts are vacant and entire buildings remain abandoned. Subway systems rattle and screech with rust. The place feels hollow. Random pedestrians wander the streets. There is no bustle of life - just routine.

In major cities in Asia, the rumble of the city can be heard from space. People flood the streets from dawn and movement does not stop until late in evening. Market places bicker noisily, information travels, money is exchanged and deals are made. The movement is something that can be felt and it resonates. Just being in Asia there is a feeling that things are happening - information flowing, and capital flowing - People making it rich and crashing to the floor. Buildings torn down, massive sky scrappers popping up, new highways built… it is constant.

CHINA RISES

There is a really great 4 part documentary put out by the CBC called China Rises. It covers issues of rapid modernization, advancing technology, loss of tradition/food/culture, pollution, production (counterfeit), the youth culture and the new generation attitudes and politics.



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China folk vs Terrastock folk

I'm talking interms of folk music.

Chinese folk that I saw present in Beijing is routed partially in religion/philosophy/spiritualism (buddism/confusionism/taoism) and sometimes includes the use of traditional instruments and sounds. Chinese folk enjoy acoustic jamming, improvising - they are influenced by jazz as well as blues and tends to be a bit funky. Electronic artists and folk musicians dominate the close-knit Chinese experimental community. The two often collaborate and play amongst each other. One of the major folk labels in China is River Music. Beijing being a more laid back tradition large city, emits a more rustic vibe - A vibe similar to small town America folk scene. People gather in small and somewhat isolated communities to share and create music.



Terrastock (neofolk/noise/psych/drone festival) is a strange phenomenon, this year congregating in Providence RI. This years festival brought together a range of artists from Finland/Europe, Japan and rural America including Avarus (Finland),Black Forest / Black Sea, Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood (Australia), Cul de Sac, Damon and Naomi, Fursaxa, Ghost (Japan), Kemialliset Ystävät (Finland), Kinski, Larkin Grimm, MV&EE with the Bummer Road, P.G. Six, Jack Rose, St Joan (England), Spacious Mind (Sweden) etc..

The festival attracted old followers of folk from the 60s to a new generation of folk and psychedelic listeners from today. Improvisations, intimacy, close listening, and story telling was a strong element that created a unique atmosphere. People listened to each other on stage as well as with the audience. The new generation of folk artists experiment with electronics - loop pedals, guitar pedals as well as various bizarre stringed instruments, bells, cymbals and objects... several young audience members were obviously on psychedelics, but not in the wavering blissful summer rave of the 60's, but a simple isolated mellow pleasure. People were well behaved and rather non-offensive. It seems folk thrives within small communities and within intimate atmospheres. Video projections blended abstractly together in real-time suggesting a kind of eerie mood psychedelic mood.

PS1 new york city _ THE THIRTEEN: CHINESE VIDEO NOW

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre in Queens, New York this season is featuring an entire section dedicated to Chinese Contemporary art (particularily video, probably due to easy travel and exhibition).

Though interest in China is all the rage right now for forward-thinking business workers and the global avant-garde, the world remains largely skeptical or ignorant of the rapid fire modernization that is happening.

This exhibit marks only the beginning of China's activity as the forefront of the world's future in modern living, thinking, and culture. A new young generation of citizens are taking on the world introducing new vitality to the world stage.

The exhibit demonstrates art that is distinctly Chinese that is not heavily weighed down by tradition or obscure exoticism (that maybe alienating to foreign viewers). It addressed many issues surrounding modern Chinese living and society including works by Guangzhou artist Cao Fei and a video featuring coy fish (a Chinese symbol of prosperity) being tossed about in a modern-day washing machine.



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PS1 : 22-25 Jackson Ave., Queens, NY 11101
February 26, 2006 through May 1, 2006

(Long Island City, New York – February 10, 2006) P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now, an exhibition featuring a young generation of Chinese artists working with new media and responding to the great socio-economic changes that are taking place in the country. The thirteen emerging artists and artist teams—most of them born in the 1960s and 1970s—will show twenty-three video works. The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is on view from February 26 through May 1, 2006.

Their choice to work with video—a relatively cheap medium that produces rapid results—underscores the heady times they face. Unlike the earlier generation of Chinese artists who gained recognition in the 1990s, the majority of these young artists choose to remain in China, living and working in major urban centers like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. In these cities they experience first-hand the growing consumer culture and rapid urban development.

Though most of these artists have presented their work internationally, many of them have not exhibited in the United States. This exhibition will present, and in many cases introduce, some of the most exciting work produced in China today.

Artists in The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now are: 8gg (multimedia duo Jiang Haiqing and Fu Yu, based in Beijing); Cui Xiuwen (b. 1970 in Heilongjiang, lives and works in Beijing); Dong Wensheng (b. 1970 in Jiangsu province, lives in Changzhou); Cao Fei (b. 1978 in Guangzhou, lives in Guangzhou); Hu Jieming (b. 1957 in China, lives and works in Shanghai); Huang Xiaopeng (b. 1960 in Shanxi, lives and works in Guangzhou); Li Songhua (b. 1969 in Beijing, lives and works in Beijing); Liang Yue (b. 1979 in Shanghai, lives and works in Beijing and Shanghai); Lu Chunsheng (b. 1968 in Changchun, lives and works in Shanghai); Ma Yongfeng (b. 1971 in Shanxi, lives and works in Beijing); Meng Jin (b. 1973 in Chong Qing); Xu Tan (b. 1957 in Wuhan; lives and works in Shanghai and Guangzhou); and Xu Zhen (b. 1977 in Shanghai, lives and works in Shanghai).

The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is co-curated by David Thorp and Sun Ning, Director of Platform China in Beijing.

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Japan revisited 1

ATAK night 2 @ Space Force - w/ mega collaborations ; Tetuzi Akiyama , Thomas Korber, Gunter Muller, Toshimaru Nakamura, Jason Kahn just to name a few
(video/pics to come) ATAK

Tetuzi Akiyama playing his guitar w/ a sword!



Tomas Korber

Tetuzi Akiyama


Unit - Tokyo >> a bunch of local bands: DJ pica pica pica, Shhhh, Pap@rapper, Abraham Cross, Butthed sunglass.. etc
insane noise rocknrooll, electrorockpsychenoiserave - these people know how to do it up


DJ pica pica pica >> EYE from the Boredoms

aaaaaah!


Gendai Heights - Hibari Music
record store\gallery\cafe - shimokitazawa

Harajuku/Yoyogi Park Sundays



street food


NECK FACE!! owns the world.

pop culture in contemporary art

It seems popular culture has been increasingly a part of contemporary art since the pop art movement in the 60's. This generation (TV and Internet generation) grew up on and is highly influenced by trends and images from the media. It is inevitable that the art created by these people is going to include elements of popular culture.

Does popular culture in contemporary art make the art somehow, less artful..? In some ways, yes.. the meaning of artwork is streamed down to a simple obsession with a particular image/lifestyle or trendy aesthetic. The avant-garde strives to provoke people of the current space and time (zeitgeist).

Often other justification for the work can be made other than that it's "cool" or happens to be the current trend. However, it also depends on how things are used and whether something more is being done with it.

e.g. Cao Fei’s COSplayers, MOCCA (Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art Rock ‘n Roll Drums in Contemporary Art Exhibit featuring performances by Flo Mounier of metal band Cryptopsy (June 3-July 3 2005) review and Videodrome 2 w/ artists like Eclectic Method doing a video mash-up of favorite hiphop and pop songs (not so justified in this case).

youtube: Madame Chao @ Videodrome

The thing is popular culture must be a part of some of the art being created by our young people today, just as certain cultural elements must be a part of some Asian art.

[This topic could also lead into the cyclical discussion of the relationship between popular culture and avant-garde (possibly more easily analyzed through music).]

SAND fest HK

In the works - mini experimental music festival. One day, numberous artists, gallery venue, art, avant/noise/experimental music. I don't feel right to annouce details before they are confirmed, but.. it's a bit exciting to see such an organized effort to make things happen for the first time in the city. The festival is going to be featuring artists from Sweden, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong - international collaborations and exchange. Money going into this is from the pocket. no doubt will be awesome..

soon-to-be-webdomain SandfestHK